Tomorrow
by Youwillneverknowmeever
Summary: Each day, Mal Fallon, stationed in Afghanistan, doesn't know whether he'll still be alive at night.He doesn't know whether he'll get back to his family in one piece, or when he'll get back to them. But he does know that tomorrow will be a better day.


**'Ello poppets!  
>So, what's the haps? (And yes, I got that from Kai.)<br>I am actually quite proud of this story, strangely enough. I had the idea to write this about... uh... 20 minutes ago. So I logged on to FanFiction, started typing and it all snowballed from there! In a good way of course.  
>And, after a WHOLE WEEK of waiting, I finally found out who Blaise Corso was. AND I HATE HER. SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH. Can she get killed off by, I dunno, Genevieve Collins, or something?<br>Or maybe SHAWN MALLORY could come back from the dead and kill her? COME ON EA, please? Just a friendly suggestion.  
>Anyways, enough of my rambling, and onto the story! Woot.<strong>

It had been yet another scorching hot day in the middle of Afghanistan, the sky gloriously clear and the air thick with humidity. Lieutenant Malachi Fallon had hid from the sun the whole day finding relief in the shade of a large tree with roots big enough to seat him comfortably. Endlessly, as if he was set on automatic, he had signed his name with a flourish on countless pieces of paper as the sun drifted sluggishly downwards and as the sky faded into a cocktail of colours. When the sky finally deepened into a velvety black and started twinkling with stars, Mal had thanked everyone he knew under his breath, feeling the balmy night breeze wash over him as he lay down on his back, his face tilted upwards to the sky.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he smiled widely in the darkness, knowing the voice that would meet him on the other line. It rang one, two, three times until he finally fumbled it out of his pocket and brought it up to his ear in one clean swoop.

"Natara?"

"Mal!" Hearing the pure joy in her voice, Mal's heart tore up a little bit inside of him. "You picked up! I'm so glad to hear your voice again!"

"And I'm glad to hear you again too. I miss you guys so much." He could hear Arianna shrieking like a banshee in the background, and grinned at the familiar sound.

"I miss you too, so much it hurts, Mal. And so does Aria. Every day she-"

"Daddy?" Mal heard Arianna's voice float through the phone. "Daddy, is that you?" His throat blocked up with intense emotion, and he cleared it desperately.

"Yes, Aria," he choked out, "It's me. It's daddy."

"Daddy! It's really you! Daddy, I miss you. Come home. You miss me too, right?" Mal tried to summon words, but they blocked themselves inside of him. He wanted to come home so desperately, but he couldn't. But he also couldn't disappoint Aria.

"Soon, soon," he tried to say airily. "And of course I miss you. Every day."

"O.K, daddy. But make sure you come back reeeeaaaaally soon, so you can watch my soccer games. They start in a couple of weeks!"

"Sure, Aria, I'll try." Mal felt his eyes tear up as he spoke the lies, and quickly changed the subject. "I bet you're getting really good."

"Yeah, I'm the best in San Francisco!" she said proudly. "I could beat you by a _mile_!" Mal chuckled lightly at her boasting, and transferred the phone to his right ear.

"In your dreams, kiddo! I'm the best in _America_! So beat that," he laughed into the mobile.

"Oh, I will beat that, because I'm the best in the world! And-" Arianna broke off abruptly, and in the silence Mal could hear Natara speaking to her.

"Sorry, daddy, gotta go. Mommy wants to talk to you now! But we'll talk later, right?"

"Of course," Mal swallowed, and continued, "and I love you, Arianna. Don't ever forget that."

"I won't, and I love you too. Here's mommy!" He heard a faint rustling noise as the phone was passed between the two.

"Mal, it's me."

"Hey Nat. How are you?"

Mal heard her take in a deep breath before she responded, "To be honest... Not very well. I miss my husband, Mal. I miss being able to ramble on to you about nothing in particular after a long day and how you would pretend to listen. I miss your heavy sarcasm that you think is actually funny. I miss taking down the criminals of the world with you. I miss hugging you and kissing you and just touching you, period. The bed feels so empty and cold without you, Mal. Why exactly did you join the army again?"

He tried to come up with an answer, but found that his speech had temporarily deserted him. Sure, he could argue that he was serving his country, paying America back for providing him with shelter, sustenance, and his beautiful family. But in the end, he missed being able to play soccer with his daughter, and he missed taking Natara out for ludicrously expensive dinners. And that was all that mattered.

"I... I... You know what, Nat? I don't know, I seriously don't. But what I do know is that I'll return to you as fast as I can, in one piece. I promise."

"Mal, you say that every time I speak to you. Even if you say it a million times, it doesn't mean that I'm going to believe you."

Mal turned away from the phone for a moment, and looked up to the sky. It glimmered with stars, and more than that, with hope and promise, and as he stared awestruck at it, belief slowly filled the gaping hole in his longing heart.

"Tomorrow, Natara. Tomorrow."

**So, whaddaya think? Review if you love it, and if you hate it... Review anyways for a chapter 2!**


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